|Press Release|Protest and Vigil to Support People’s Struggle Against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plan

PUCL-Bangalore, with many other organisations, came together in front of Town Hall today to protest against the vicious police crackdown on the protesters opposed to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, in Tamil Nadu. So far 185 protesters, and 11 prominent activists from the region have been arrested, following the CM’s announcement to allow operation at KKNPP. People Movement Against Nuclear Energy convener Dr. SP Udaykumar and a senior activist Pushparayan are on an indefinite fast, together with twenty thousand others from the struggle against the nuclear plant.

PUCL with other Civil and Human rights organisations and many concerned citizens, are strongly opposed to the repressive tactics used by the Tamil Nadu state. We further condemn the move to subordinate a strongly democratic people’s opposition movement with false arrests and war-like tactics of switching off water and power connections to the village of Idinthakarai. We also strongly oppose the move by the State to give a green signal to KKNPP project when so many technical issues related to safety concerns still remain unanswered by the government and when the project has been demonstrated to be unnecessary, unsafe, expensive and undemocratic. We stand in solidarity with the people’s struggle against KKNPP and demand the release of all arrested people and to scrap the project immediately – its still not too late!

Dissent is an essential component of democracy, and this heavy-handed draconian approach by the state is not acceptable in a pluralistic society.